


The Shoal

by impatientseamstress



Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, American Gods Inspired, Gods, Octopi & Squid, Polytheism, The Shoal, cthulhuesque, faith without the religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:28:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26038678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impatientseamstress/pseuds/impatientseamstress
Summary: When a tiny pod crashes into a prison yard, there is barely enough consciousness and faith to keep so much as a shimmer in the air and The Shoal is nothing more than impressions...
Relationships: Megamind & Minion, Megamind/Roxanne Ritchi (implied)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 88





	The Shoal

**Author's Note:**

> So...this still isn't what I planned on writing...Its more the idea from American Gods, you bring your gods with you and the stronger the faith, the greater the power. The Shoal is my own idea and yes they are based on cephalopods in general, which is also why Megamind's people are called the Cepha

Some say when you leave a place you carry your gods with you...

When a tiny pod crashes into a prison yard, there is barely enough consciousness and faith to keep so much as a shimmer in the air and the Shoal is nothing more than impressions. Keep safe, hold fast and grow little larvae. 

They are close, so close to death in those first few years. They mourn their people, their precious Cepha. The stars are wrong and they have only one child left in the universe to remember them.

Tentra, Arm of Fear is strongest first. The fear of their child crashes out from these hot blood creatures and it/he/self builds that into reflexes to flinch/fly/flee from danger.

Coleo, Arm of Knowledge grows fastest. The damage they have to wreak on their Cepha's fragile form breaks their shared heart but he has to be smarter, faster, greater for this to ever work. The more these mudbound natives are captivated by plans and plots the sooner he will be safe.

Iridi, Arm of Camouflage, works fiercely. It is hard to be so far from The Shoal but she throws herself again and again at the tiny sparking brains of humans. Eyes skate unseeing over plans for manipulation, torture, dissection. Papers are destroyed, names and places forgotten. She wraps her arms around her mantle and weeps that she cannot gift their child the colours and textures of his people. She can only grant him neglect.

Myn, Arm of Family has a secret weapon in the form of Minion. The first time Minion can speak aloud to Megamind she swarms around them like warms currents and their laughter and shocked joy is almost enough to let her hold them in her tentacles.

Mante, Arm of Tricks has fun. He slings himself along the swarms of brain-bots and delights in the shrieks of surprise these little planet bound creatures provide. He is a slippery one and has been known to sabotage a trap or two to prolong the game. The Shoal sometimes hate him for it, but he cannot deny his nature any more than they can deny theirs.

Molla, Arm of Curiosity does not like the little reporter. She is too quick, too clever, she is a threat. And oh the irony, how she would have been Molla's greatest disciple had she been born a Cepha. She swarms with the Shoal, pushing for them to cast the creature from their Cepha's thoughts...

She is overruled by Biva, Arm of Love, who sees the glow in their Cepha's eyes answered in the grey of this creature and vows she will grant this primoid descendant the blue of oceans and the long limbs of the Cepha to surge through the waves with their beloved child. They can do this, if the plan works he will not be the last and they will not let him die alone.

Nautilae, Arm of Tales, sings him the stories of the Cepha. The flash of starlight on waves, the carved spires reaching up into space and down into the depths, songs of learning and songs of history along with lullabies for frightened hatchlings. She trills the song of the Shoal, _we are here - we are with you - you are not alone_ and sometimes it works well enough for screaming nightmares to slow into hiccuping sobs.

Megamind grows and the Shoal grows with him. Still invisible they guide his hands and mind and thoughts. These mammalian things will not love and treasure and protect their precious one. It is up to them.

Metro Man's people did not have gods. They believed in nothing but themselves and taking what your own strength will get you (really it was no wonder his was the pod to land at the Scott's mansion). The sudden removal of himself from the game leaves a gaping void of faith screaming for something to fill it.

Mante laughs. He appreciates the joke. No one else does.

Human's don't carry their gods like the Cepha do. They cannot give form to belief or power to form in the same way. But enough emotional intensity, enough respect, awe and fear aimed in one direction is enough to focus and arc out, like rainbows from a prism.

When Metro Man falls, dies, flees. The overwhelming shock is finally enough to coalesce from impression, guidance, faith into physical reality.

And when the first great head breaks from the ocean, tentacles coiling to lift up the last of the Cepha who is on his knees laughing and crying and keening for the loss of his parents, his people, his oceans, who gulps and presses himself flat against the the touch that finally, finally feels like home.

 _ **Beloved Child**_ a voice that is not a voice intones _**We are here**_


End file.
